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Sustainability
Volume 13
Issue 20
10.3390/su132011162
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Article

Ethics of Smart Cities: Towards Value-Sensitive Design and Co-Evolving City Life

by
Dirk Helbing
1,2,*,†,
Farzam Fanitabasi
3,
Fosca Giannotti
4,
Regula Hänggli
5,
Carina I. Hausladen
1,
Jeroen van den Hoven
6,
Sachit Mahajan
1,
Dino Pedreschi
7 and
Evangelos Pournaras
8
1
Computational Social Science, Department of Humanities, Social and Political Sciences, ETH Zürich, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland
2
Complexity Science Hub Vienna, 1080 Wien, Austria
3
Department of Communication Science, Faculty of Social Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
4
ISTI-CNR, 56124 Pisa, Italy
5
Department of Communication and Media Research, University of Fribourg, 1700 Fribourg, Switzerland
6
Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, TU Delft, 2628 BX Delft, The Netherlands
7
KDD Lab, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy
8
School of Computing, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
Current address: Stampfenbachstrasse 48, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland.
Sustainability 2021, 13(20), 11162; https://doi.org/10.3390/su132011162
Submission received: 3 September 2021 / Revised: 23 September 2021 / Accepted: 28 September 2021 / Published: 9 October 2021
(This article belongs to the Special Issue AI and Interaction Technologies for Social Sustainability)
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Abstract

The digital revolution has brought about many societal changes such as the creation of “smart cities”. The smart city concept has changed the urban ecosystem by embedding digital technologies in the city fabric to enhance the quality of life of its inhabitants. However, it has also led to some pressing issues and challenges related to data, privacy, ethics inclusion, and fairness. While the initial concept of smart cities was largely technology- and data-driven, focused on the automation of traffic, logistics and processes, this concept is currently being replaced by technology-enabled, human-centred solutions. However, this is not the end of the development, as there is now a big trend towards “design for values”. In this paper, we point out how a value-sensitive design approach could promote a more sustainable pathway of cities that better serves people and nature. Such “value-sensitive design” will have to take ethics, law and culture on board. We discuss how organising the digital world in a participatory way, as well as leveraging the concepts of self-organisation, self-regulation, and self-control, would foster synergy effects and thereby help to leverage a sustainable technological revolution on a global scale. Furthermore, a “democracy by design” approach could also promote resilience.
Keywords: smart cities; digital democracy; participation; co-creation; sustainability; resilience smart cities; digital democracy; participation; co-creation; sustainability; resilience

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MDPI and ACS Style

Helbing, D.; Fanitabasi, F.; Giannotti, F.; Hänggli, R.; Hausladen, C.I.; van den Hoven, J.; Mahajan, S.; Pedreschi, D.; Pournaras, E. Ethics of Smart Cities: Towards Value-Sensitive Design and Co-Evolving City Life. Sustainability 2021, 13, 11162. https://doi.org/10.3390/su132011162

AMA Style

Helbing D, Fanitabasi F, Giannotti F, Hänggli R, Hausladen CI, van den Hoven J, Mahajan S, Pedreschi D, Pournaras E. Ethics of Smart Cities: Towards Value-Sensitive Design and Co-Evolving City Life. Sustainability. 2021; 13(20):11162. https://doi.org/10.3390/su132011162

Chicago/Turabian Style

Helbing, Dirk, Farzam Fanitabasi, Fosca Giannotti, Regula Hänggli, Carina I. Hausladen, Jeroen van den Hoven, Sachit Mahajan, Dino Pedreschi, and Evangelos Pournaras. 2021. "Ethics of Smart Cities: Towards Value-Sensitive Design and Co-Evolving City Life" Sustainability 13, no. 20: 11162. https://doi.org/10.3390/su132011162

APA Style

Helbing, D., Fanitabasi, F., Giannotti, F., Hänggli, R., Hausladen, C. I., van den Hoven, J., Mahajan, S., Pedreschi, D., & Pournaras, E. (2021). Ethics of Smart Cities: Towards Value-Sensitive Design and Co-Evolving City Life. Sustainability, 13(20), 11162. https://doi.org/10.3390/su132011162

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